Role of the Atlantic Corridor project as a form of strategic community of practice in facilitating business transformations in Latin America

This thesis examines the way a change management entity facilitated a deep and lasting business transformation, undertaken as a major program of projects that were engaged in business process re-engineering, logistics supply change management and formation of joint ventures and forms of alliance. It takes a project management perspective with a strong focus on how the Corridor project achieved change through leadership, co-learning strategies and collaboration. It takes place within the context of a unique historical period of economic transition for Latin America. The research focuses on the Corridor as a single entity using five case studies of different complexity. The Corridor Project developed as a dynamic community of practice with project management office characteristics where a number of projects were born and evolved through their different life cycles as business transformation outcomes. The Corridor could become a model to put into practice in other regions of the world where production and consumption asymmetries are found or where infrastructural asymmetries could call for a Corridor-like project to overcome trade imbalances or increase regional trade - all this leading to a series of business transformation opportunities to let corporations become more competitive by making a strategic use of knowledge sharing and transfer

Labouring in Lilliput : labour relations and images of smallness in developing microstates

This project opens up insights into the social processes colouring labour relations in developing microstates. It purports to explore how worker behaviour in very small, often island, developing countries unfolds in circumstances prone also to influences resulting from the condition of smallness. The thesis' main intended contribution is therefore an alertness to the plausibility and heuristic usefulness of a smallness perspective towards a better understanding of microstate labour dynamics in particular. The research design adopted is reflexively critical. It confronts the theories and epithets surrounding the developing microstate, constructing a home grown, conceptual framework and methodological regime. This sensitises research to the often unacknowledged, behavioural dynamics which 'infect' labour formation and labour-management relations in these territories. The method of investigation comprises a resort to multiple data sourcing. A literature audit is complemented by 4 case studies. These involve: Transnationally comparable employment and labour relations settings emergent from semi-structured interview scripts; encounters with fellow microstate academics; and an autobiographical ethnography. The material is organised a follows: The research question is first set up and the applied methodology problematised (Chapter 1) . Next is a review of development theory, with the proposal of an alternative explanation of microstate 'development' strategies, subsequently applied to the experiences of Malta (my country) and Barbados (Chapter 2). The construction of a microstate labour syndrome follows, with the explanatory and organising potential of a typology revolving around the conditions of intimacy, totality and monopoly (Chapter 3). These leitmotifs are then tested out: First, in the context of labour relations in two microstate hotels (Chapter 4); secondly, with respect to the behaviour and perceptions of microstate campus academic staff; lastly, in relation to the self as microstate academic (Chapter 5). The conclusion serves as a synthesis as well as an opportunity to appraise the implications of the results (Chapter 6)

Exploratory research into supply chain voids within Welsh priority business sectors

The paper reports the findings resulting from the initial stages of an exploratory investigation into Supply Chain Voids (SCV) in Wales. The research forms the foundations of a PhD thesis which is framed within the sectors designated as important by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) and indicates local supplier capability voids within their supply chains. This paper covers the stages of initial data gathering, analysis and results identified between June 2006 and April 2007, whilst addressing the first of four research questions. Finally, the approach to address future research is identified in order to explain how the PhD is to progress

Operational Research: Methods and Applications

Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order